Many outdoor activities require the use of bulky, uncomfortable footwear. Such footwear, although functional for its intended purpose, may be uncomfortable for prolonged use, either before, during or after the activity. Such extended wear may produce foot fatigue in addition to soreness and cramping. Moreover, such footwear can be inconvenient for travel to and from the activity.
For example, a downhill ski boot is hard-shelled, highly constrictive and not at all conducive for wear outside of speeding down a mountain while secured in the bindings of a pair of skis. Simple tasks such as walking to and from a car, or moving around a cafeteria during a break in the day, can result in severe foot discomfort. Similar situations arise for hikers, ice skaters, in-line skaters, bicyclists, and certain pilots.
Walking to the base of a ski hill, or another starting point of the outdoor activity can be easily done in comfortable standard outdoor footwear. The problem, however, is what to do with the standard footwear once the sport footwear is worn. Some options are to store the standard footwear in a distant locker, or hope to store them in a backpack. Most options are inconvenient and/or uncomfortable and must be done while walking in the sport footwear. An outdoor weatherproof footwear that can be stuffed into a pocket would solve this problem.
“Apres-ski boots” of the 1970s addressed a similar problem of what to wear after skiing when one has returned to one's car or condo. However, these boots were not at all suitable for stuffing in one's jacket pocket, nor suitable for bringing along when camping or backpacking. Moreover, many types of indoor/outdoor slippers exist, but all have one or more disadvantages. For example, some are not flexible or crushable enough. Also, some do not have waterproof uppers. Most indoor/outdoor slippers look like slippers, which Is not appealing to outdoors-oriented people.
There are many different types, styles and varieties of footwear available to the outdoor enthusiast for post-activity wear. However, none have the combination of being weatherproof, compressible and sportily designed. It would be an improvement over the prior art to provide footwear for the outdoor enthusiast having an aesthetically pleasing design that is both weatherproof and compressible or collapsible.
In addition, it would be advantageous to provide a backpack for carrying the footwear associated with the activity while wearing the post-activity footwear. The backpack would be collapsible so as to fit comfortably in a small space, such as a pocket of a ski jacket, but durable enough to carry the many different varieties of heavy gear associated with the activity.